Sorry !

While walking to the school today, I came across a old lady. She was walking slowly on the sidewalk in the same direction. The sidewalk was narrow and there was not enough space for me to walk past her. So I walked slightly off the sidewalk on to the grass and crossed her.

As soon as I passed her by, I heard her say sorry. It was not a sorry that we just hand down to others every now and then. It sounded as if she was sorry that she is old now and cannot walk fast enough. It sounded as if she was sorry that she was walking in the middle of the sidewalk and thus blocking my way. It made me feel very bad. I wanted to stop and tell her that it was alright to be old and to walk slowly, that she need not worry too much about us young people walking slightly here and there because society is not meant for only young and active, it is meant for everybody and she has a right to be old and walk slowly without feeling bad.

Instead I said "it's alright" and moved on. Today was a bad day.

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Comments

Anonymous said…
It happened to me too once (or twice?). I kinda feel bad that I don't know correct body language to reciprocate my feelings of 'you don't have to be sorry at all. Take care and have a good day!'. So I just ended up saying a meek 'its fine'.
Also I would be inclined to say that people in US are generally more open to say 'sorry' and 'thank you' to strangers whenever they feel appropriate in contrast to us Indians who kind of feel shy or inhibited to say what they actually feel (for example if some stranger holds door open for you in a Supermarket). May be its just that huge our population density renders it economical to say nothing much on such occasions. Anyhow, a random rambling.
November 19, 2007 at 9:43 AM
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